The Freedom of Information Act 2016(the Act)aims to encourage a pro-disclosure bias and discretions given under it be exercised as far as possible in favour of disclosing government information.

The purpose of the Act is to:

provide a right of access to government information unless access to the information would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest; and

recognise the importance of public access to government information for the proper working of representative democracy; andenable the public to participate more effectively in government processes and to promote improved decision-making within government;

enable the public to participate more effectively in government processes and to promote improved decision-making within government; andensure that, to the fullest extent possible, government information is freely and publicly available to everyone;

make the people and bodies that are responsible for governing the Territory more accountable to the public; andensure that personal information held by the Territory is accurate, complete, up-to-date and not misleading.

ensure that, to the fullest extent possible, government information is freely and publicly available to everyone; and

facilitate and promote, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, the disclosure of the maximum amount of government information; and

ensure that personal information held by the Territory is accurate, complete, up-to-date and not misleading.

The new Act aims to strengthen the community’s right to access government-held information unless, on balance, releasing the information would be contrary to the public interest.

Searching for information

Before submitting an access application, have a look at the Open Access Website to see if what you are looking for is already available.

A Disclosure Log of applications previously processed by ACT Health may also contain documents you wish to request.

Please note you cannot obtain Health Records under the FOI Act. Health records should be requested under the ACT Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997.